Spirit of Adventure
by mckeown
Summary: Arthur's first space station and all he wanted to do was have an adventure, not witness a crime that had him running for his life. He almost got away, he knew he could have made it, if he hadn't run into an 8-foot Predator who was anything but pleased. Meeting his first Yautja is nothing like Arthur expected, but it will be the least of his problems oddly enough. 5000 HITS!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This idea popped in my head and I just had to write it down! I don't know where it's going, or how frequently I'll update but let me know what you think and I'll take all ideas and criticisms into account.**

Arthur Sullivan grinned as he pulled on his leather flight jacket and grabbed his satchel from his bunk. The seventeen-year-old had only graduated from space academy five months ago and was the newest 'space jockey' on the _Spirit's Adventure_. He had never been anywhere else but Earth so the prospect of being on an alien space station and seeing other forms of life was exhilarating. Of course the rest of the crew found it hilarious how excited he was and he had been the receiving end of jokes for the past week, ever since he found out where the ship was be docking.

The captain, Jack Richards, had been the only one who had not made fun of Arthur.

"It's actually refreshing to be reminded how new I used to find space too."  
The _Spirit's Adventure_ was not a large ship, only used for hauling cargo all over the Sol system and sometimes picking up shipments that required the ship to travel to other systems. Still, Arthur had never seen anyone but humans his whole life, though he had seen pictures of various aliens in the academy, and so he was really looking forward to his first shore leave. Of course he received a lot of helpful comments from various crewmembers, and some comments that he was not sure were serious or a joke. Arthur definitely memorized what he should or should not do in order to avoid offending some aliens. It was bizarre how being seen as aggressive by some species could start a fight, while others would pick one if they thought you were soft.

When the _Spirit's Adventure_ docked with the space station, Arthur was practically jumping from one foot to the other in nervous anticipation.

"As space stations go, Art, this one isn't all that exciting," Thomas Arlington, the navigator, tried to tell him. "The liquors watered down to prevent drunken brawls, and the only women around are crew members from other ships that are so hardened you wouldn't even think of getting close to one."

At seventeen, Arthur was not looking to get drunk or to find a woman. The captain had cracked a smile when he said that Arthur was a perfect crewman for the ship, since the boy's spirit seemed to be thirsting for adventure though Richards doubted Arthur would get many while running cargo shipments.

"Alright lads, listen up," Richards said. "You'll have five hours to explore the station and do whatever else you want to do. We're scheduled to detach at 1400 hours, which means you must be back on the ship by 1330, no later than 1350 because we'll need ten minutes to prep for departure. Once we detach we will not be able to re-dock as this is one of busiest stations in this quadrant, with ships scheduled for docking in every slot. So, here's your warning, if you get left behind you will need to book passage with a ship that is going to our next stop or back to Earth, depending on when that ship is leaving and whether or not you think you can catch up with us or not. Go have fun, but keep an eye on your chronometers." Richards held up a hand to signal Arthur aside, allowing everyone else to walk through the hatch. "Here, Sullivan, take this." The captain handed Arthur a pouch, "I know you have your own credits to spend but this is your emergency fund. You are to use it only if you get left behind, understood?"

Arthur gulped, the prospect of actually failing to make it back to the ship in time becoming very real now. "Yes, sir."

"Go enjoy yourself."  
Arthur wondered just how he was supposed to do that with the threat of being left behind looming over him. However, as Arthur stepped into the space station and into a throng of people moving through the hallway he found the captain's words swiftly becoming a distant memory. The grin was back on his face in a second, and Arthur followed his crewmates, becoming slightly separated as none of them were trying to stick together and the horde of people, humans and various alien species, moved towards the hub of the station.

Walking out of the hallway, Arthur looked up as the space station opened up, just like one of Earth's shopping malls, and there were markets and venue stands lining up all along the walls. The station was four tiered, having an upper and lower deck for visitors. The lowest deck was for the space station's employees and Arthur read the signs to avoid that level at all cost since the Hornheads, as the aliens running the station were called, were not known for looking kindly on those who wandered were they had no right to be.

Arthur saw a few of the station's employees walking around, their scaled skin and the three horns in their heads making them kind of look like a triceratops. The human lad sidestepped them, knowing these were one of the species that dealt swiftly with confrontation by thumping their alien opponents on the head, thus knocking them swiftly out. Getting a headache on this adventure was not on Arthur's list of things to do, so running into a Hornhead was not to be encouraged.

Passing a stall that was selling Popsicle shaped food, Arthur dug out a credit and bought one of the snacks. The burst of flavor on his tongue had to have been the best thing Arthur had ever had, and he took his time lapping at the frozen sweet as he walked around. One of things he quickly found he liked to watch was seeing others barter with the shop owners over prices or trade. Not everyone had the same currency system so in the academy they had learned bout bartering or making a trade, but Arthur had never really excelled in those classes. He found that he was just not pushy enough or argumentative enough to haggle, and several times his classmates had gotten him to agree to paying more than the actual price just because he wanted to return to his seat as quickly as possible. Leaving the academy and being assigned to a ship that had none of his year mates on it had been a blessing that Arthur would never complain about.

Watching those around him barter and haggle now made the classes back at the academy look like child's play. Everywhere around him, Arthur could see that the aliens, or humans, were professionals and some exchanges went on for a full fifteen minutes before both sides could come to an agreement. Sometimes there were compromises, sometimes the shop owner or the buyer declared defeat and gave into the other. Arthur saw a few of his shipmates take part in these and it was funny seeing Arlington getting stumped by a clothes merchant's refusal to lower his price on a fur jacket that would definitely come in handy in the coldness of space.

"Kid, hey kid!" Arlington waved him over and Arthur, finishing his Popsicle, walked over to see what the navigator wanted. "You got any money, kid? This crook won't come down anymore and I'm fifty short. Look at this jacket, kid, it's a beaut and it will come in handy when the heat's acting up again on the ship."

"Oh," Arthur said, staring at the jacket, which really did look warm. "Oh, well I—"

"I'll share it with you, you can have it on the odd days of the week and I'll have in on the even. What do'ya say? Help a fella out, won't you?"

Arthur checked the credits in his pocket, "I'm sorry, Tom, I've only got twenty."

"Oh, that's a shame, well…" Thomas caught sight of the pouch strapped to Arthur's belt. "Well what's that then? You wouldn't hold on me would'ya Artie?"

Arthur hated that nickname, "No, no, I wouldn't. That's the emergency fund the captain gave me, for in case I get left behind."

"He still giving those out to the newbies?" Arlington scoffed, "Listen kid, the chances of you getting left behind are a thousand to one. The captain just likes running a tight ship and keeping up on our toes. None of us have been left behind before he sure ain't going to start now. Besides, you've got to have over a hundred creds in there, just loan me fifty and I'll square it with the captain later."

Arthur bit his lip, looking from Tom's pleading face, to the fur jacket, to the shop keeper's unrelenting gaze. "I, I really shouldn't Tom. The captain loaned me this in good faith, he'll want it back when I get back to the ship and when he finds some of it missing he'll hold me accountable. I don't think buying a jacket counts as an emergency."

"Listen kid," Tom said, smiling easily, "I've known the captain longer than you. If you loan me the money I'll just tell the captain what happened and he'll be cool with it. Ya've got nothing to worry about." Seeing the undecided look on Arthur's face, Thomas backed off. "Never mind, kid, we'll just forget it."

Arthur was relieved, getting stuck like this was unpleasant and he was unsure who he should be more loyal too, the captain or his crewmate. "You sure?"

"Yeah, at the price this thing is it will still be here when we come back this way and I'll get it then. See ya miser!" Thomas called at the shop owner, steering Arthur away from the shop and back to the main hub of the space station. "Where've ya been so far kid? Have you been below yet?"

"No, I haven't," Arthur answered. "Isn't it mainly residential quarters down there for the shop keepers and tourists?"

"There's that," Thomas conceded, leading Arthur to the escalator going down, "but there's also a few more cultured shops that you should look at and it's not generally as crowded as up here." Thomas looked around before leaning in so Arthur could hear his lowered words, "Who knows, maybe we'll even catch a glimpse of a Yautja."

Arthur felt his heart speed up, "Really? They come here?"

He had heard of the legendary predators of course, and watched a few videos people had managed to tape of the space hunters when they came to Earth seeking trophies. Since Earth had reached a technological level to travel space and join trading routes with many other species, the Yautja had frequented the human home planet less and less. Although a few took it as a challenge to slip through Earth's defenses and go hunting, there seemed to be a consensus that once your prey had the means to find your own home planet it was just not as fun anymore.

Arthur had always wanted to see one in person and had confessed such a desire to Arlington a couple months ago. Since anyone who saw a Predator usually ended up dead, the only time to catch a glimpse of one was one neutral ground, such as a space station, since an area where other species convened together for the sake of trade and commerce was considered off-limits to the Yautja. That was a necessary law to have unless the Yautja wanted to be banned from space stations and market squares, and also lose merchants coming to their home world to trade.

"Alright, let's go."

Thomas grinned and the two descended a level, they were still technically in the hub of the stores, but the shops down here were not as crowded and there was more room to move around without jostling anyone. The less shoppers around actually made sense to Arthur on why a Yautja would tend to be on this level and not above. From what he had read, the predator species tended to be shy around others, for lack of a better word. They were not, as a rule, a very social group outside their own species and many of the males went through 'loner' periods shortly after becoming an adult. In fact, the only Yautja you might see in a space station were bad bloods, and the arbiters pursuing them. Still, Arthur was excited at the prospect at seeing one, for all the harm and terror they had inflicted on Earth by ways of their hunt and coming of age trials, it was because of the Yautja that humans had pushed themselves to excel at space travel so they really owed all they had accomplished the gigantic hunters, not that humans would ever tell that to the Predators.

The shops on the second tier were more mechanical, carrying ship parts and interesting gadgets that immediately caught Arthur's eye. Drifting slightly from Thomas, the young human made his way into one of the shops. He waved the owner off, claiming he was just browsing and the alien, looking like a wolf on two legs, turned to his other customer. Arthur did indeed browse, and he inspected a few of the gadgets to see what they did.

Even though Arthur was a junior pilot he found a few interesting mechanical pieces that held his attention, even though the engineering of them escaped his comprehension. Finding a helm computation device that supposedly increased a pilot's control during tricky maneuvering, Arthur was captivated and plugged the device into a simulation machine at the back of the shop where people could test some of the merchandise. Choosing a flight simulation that had challenging turns, Arthur settled into the chair and lost himself in the game.

The device was amazing! Arthur had always had a talent for flying, none of his instructors had disputed that, but with the device hooked up to the simulation's helm controls, the human found his skills practically doubled. How long he played, Arthur was not sure, but when he became aware of the fact that his posterior and legs were numb he knew he had been sitting for a long time. Getting up to stretch and disengage the device, Arthur shook off the pins and needles feeling that swept up his legs and turned to look around the shop. Thomas Arlington was nowhere in sight and Arthur realized that he could not even remember the navigator coming into the shop with him.

Feeling a slight sense of panic, Arthur returned the device to the shelf and walked out of the store. The second tier's hub had filled with more people, and Arthur searched for Thomas, wondering if the man had gone off and left him or if he had hung around. Strange that Thomas had not told he was going off, a warning would have been nice. There were a few bars off to the side and Arthur wandered over that way, knowing that Arlington liked to drink even if the liquor had been watered down. Looking through the open doorways of the bars revealed only low lighting and shady characters, so Arthur was about to turn back towards the hub when he heard voices from around the corner, and one of them sounded like Arlington's.

"That stuff you sold me wasn't worth a lick of salt, bozo!"  
"Please! I sell you wrong stuff, but I make up for it, yes? I give you good sample, at half price."

Arthur rounded the corner just in time to see three humans cornering an alien. The tallest of the humans grabbed the yellow skinned alien by the shoulder, and drove a knife into his belly. "I don't want your half price or cheap goods. I want my money back!"

The alien gurgled out an answer Arthur could not hear but that was the least of his worries as one of the other humans looked up and saw Sullivan.

"Skater!" The hissed warning had the human with the knife and other one turning to look and that was when Arthur's self preservation kicked in.

Turning sharply on his heel, Arthur took off, ignoring the angered calls behind him as he dashed past the bars, running into a few patrons as they left. More angry shouts followed in his wake, as well as the drum of shoes hitting the metal plating at a fast run. They were coming after him!

The crowd seemed to have thickened in the short amount of time Arthur had gone looking for Thomas and the young human was forced to jump, dodge and slide under aliens and fellow humans as he ran, each narrow miss had an angry voice yelling after him, some shouted for him to slow down, but Arthur had one thought at the moment and that was to get as far away from the humans he had seen attacking that alien as possible. He had witnessed a crime, and young as Arthur was he knew that leaving a witness around was never a good idea for criminals.

The way to the escalators was blocked, too many people of all shapes and sizes were on their way up or down and Arthur was forced to veer off if he wanted to keep his lead on his pursuers. Heading to where he thought the elevators might be, Arthur turned a corner at a dead run and ran smack into some immovable force hard.

Jarred from his sprint, Arthur stumbled back before he lost his balance and fell to the floor, landing on his posterior with a harsh impact that jarred his body.

His panic momentarily forgotten as his head spun, Arthur lifted two hands to cradle his aching skull as he looked up…and up.

 **AN: Please review to let me know what you think, and if this story stands a chance. Also, declare what you are: predator, alien or human, so I can see who this story appeals to more :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed! Hope you like this next chapter.**

 **Guest: Glad you liked it.**

 **Species reading this story:**

 **Ooman female – 1**

 **Predator - 1**

There was no mistaking the alien towering over him for anything other than a Yautja. No other being Arthur had studied had that imposing height or wore that style armor than a Predator. The head swiveled around to look at him, for Arthur had run into the giant's back, and the Yautja snarled in outrage.

Before Arthur could move, the Predator swooped down, grabbing a fistful of the lad's shirt and drew the human up so that Arthur dangled from the alien's grip.

Arthur, to his everlasting dismay, actually squeaked when the Predator grabbed him, hauling him up so that the human was above the hunter. Knowing he only had seconds, if that, in order to divert this sudden crisis from escalating into getting his spine ripped out, Arthur turned his head and brought it down to his shoulder. Avoiding eye contact with an enraged Yautja was a must, the academy had taught him, and showing said angered Predator that you were not looking for a fight and submitting if you happened to get caught by one might save your neck…or it might not. It all depended on the mood of the hunter, and his age because if he was young your chances were slim whereas an older Yautja might be willing to let an incident slide if you showed proper respect.

What the Predator holding Arthur up was about to do the human had no idea, for a pounding of feet permeated Sullivan's terrified mind and he remembered his pursuers. So shocked and frightened about what might happen next, Arthur whipped his head around, ignoring the pain that sprang in his neck from the action, and saw the three that had chased him round the corner. The three humans nearly fell over themselves with the suddenness in which they stopped, arms flailing out and legs backpedaling in a hurried effort to come to a stop without running into the Yautja, or the human dangling from the hunter's grip.

A hush fell over the hallway; no one moved or spoke. The sounds from the crowded hub drifted down the corridor, so faint and distant that they were barely registering as background noise. A pin dropping at this instance would have been loud indeed, as it was, Arthur was sure everyone could hear the pounding of his heart as it echoed in his ears and sent the blood rushing dizzily to his head.

What would the Yautja do? What would the drug addicts do? Arthur did not look back at the hunter, instead he kept his wide open eyes on the three humans, each of them breathing heavily and Sullivan felt his heart plummet when he saw a knife was visible through the middle one's open jacket. The Yautja were funny about weapons, sometimes seeing someone armed set them off and other times they could walk on without looking back.

The Yautja moved then, for what reason Arthur was not sure, but the Predator shifted his feet to a better stance and that was all it took. Perhaps it was the drug induced state that prevented the humans' self preservation from kicking in right away, or perhaps they were too shocked by the sight of the hunter that they had frozen like deer in the headlights, not knowing what to do. Whatever caused them to stand there vanished when the Yautja moved; all three humans whipped around and took off, as if the devil himself were after them.

They disappeared from sight; the quick beat of their footsteps on the metal flooring echoing back to Arthur and the Yautja until the din of the hub swallowed them up. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that his pursuers had been frightened off but also because no bloodbath had erupted with him caught in the middle. It took a second, so relieved, as he was, that he had gotten out of a scary situation that Arthur forgot he was not quite out of the fire yet.

It took the grip on his shirt, shaking him till he but his own tongue, to bring Arthur's attention back to the Yautja holding him up. The Predator stared at him long and hard before dropping him, Arthur stumbled when he landed on his feet, fighting for his balance but once he had it the human's equilibrium was threatened once again. A rap of hard knuckles against the top of Arthur's head had the young human staggering once again, his arms flailing out to steady himself. His stability restored, Arthur grabbed his aching head as he looked up at the Yautja, whose shoulders were shaking and the hunter chittered down at him. Arthur realized the Predator was laughing at him, though why the human was unsure. That he had been reprimanded was certain, the hit to his head was like what a teacher or parent would do when their student or child had done something incredibly stupid and had, surprisingly, survived.

Now that his heart had calmed down, and his life no longer seemed to be in immediate danger, Arthur took a good look at the Yautja in front of him. Standing a little over eight feet, armed with only a short blade strapped to his leg, the Predator's sharp edged visor was more than enough to intimidate anyone. The hunter's hide was a mixture of black and green, the darker color being more predominate on his back and then dispersing around the front till it just looked like freckles sprinkled around the top of the chest. The toned stomach area was a light green, almost yellowish, and the tall male wore the customary netting over its body that regulated its heat as well armor pieces strapped around its waist and thighs.

Both the Yautja and the human were startled by the beeping sound that came from the watch on Arthur's wrist. Alarmed, Arthur stared down at his chronometer; his brain trying to comprehend that yes, the fifteen minute warning he had set before heading out was going off. If he did not take off right now the _Spirit of Adventure_ would leave without him and he would be stuck on the station for who knew how long, of forced to book passage on some strange ship in order to catch up to his own.

Arthur looked up at the Yautja, "I've got to go."

Not allowing the Predator anytime to respond, Arthur ran for the hub, hoping that the crowd had died down. It had not, and Arthur was forced to slow as he pressed his way through the multitude of aliens and humans who flocked to the lower section of the station for their entertainment. Taking the escalator, Arthur was thankfully one of the few going up so he was able to run. Passing anyone in his way got him an angry shout but Sullivan ignored them, his mind centered on one thing and that was reaching his ship in time.

Past the shopping centers on the main floor, Arthur was able to sprint towards the docking pier where the _Spirit of Adventure_ was. Without glancing at his wristwatch Arthur knew he had time, a couple minutes at best but he was going to make and he could not stop the relieved grin from spreading over his face as the airlock to his ship came in sight.

Thomas Arlington was standing just inside the airlock, no doubt keeping an eye out for stragglers.

"Thomas!" Arthur shouted, making a few aliens in front of him hastily move out of the way so he could keep running without interference.

Arlington looked up at Arthur's shout, and, as his lungs burned for air, Sullivan saw everything with startling clarity. The navigator's face twisted in anger and he stepped back further into the airlock, his hand hitting the door release and the airlock sealed. Arthur stumbled, his brain failing to understand what he had just seen and the young human stood panting in the hallway, eyes wide in shock.

"No." Arthur gasped, his body shaking from the adrenaline run that was no winding down. Startling forward, Sullivan made it to the sealed airlock, but the red light and the annoying _access denied_ sound from the door release button confirmed that yes, the ship had gone and yes, he had been left behind.

Arthur was unsure what the best response to this kind of situation would be. Crying? Screaming? Staring stupidly at the closed door?

Either one sounded ridiculous to do, and at seventeen Arthur was not the screaming type. He had not cried since his mother's death when he was ten, so staring stupidly was his only option and how long he would have stayed there doing just that was unknown, for his commbadge beeped just then and Arthur hastily opened it.

"Sullivan? Where are you?" Captain Richards asked, his voice stern but Arthur hoped there was also a hint of concern present as well.

A tendril of panic shot up Arthur's spine, icy cold, and Sullivan drew in a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry, sir, I… I didn't make it in time." Telling the truth did not seem to be the best thing to do right now. Richards looked out for his crew, as much as a supply ship captain could, he was loyal to them so long as they were vice versa. Arthur was not about to point fingers at Arlington, especially since he was not even on the ship to properly do so. How would Richards react to the boy's accusation against his navigator? Arthur was only a junior pilot, learning the position and the ins and outs of piloting that no simulation could teach from the _Spirit of Adventure's_ more experienced pilot, Jacob Lexington. In short, Arthur was expendable and whom would you listen to if you were captain? A man you have known for years or some pipsqueak who had only flown the ship three times in the past five months?

Arthur did not like his chances, and besides, confronting Arlington might be better than going to the captain. Crews were funny about such things anyway, if you had a problem you confronted it, you did not dance around it and go to the captain to straighten it out for you.

Richards sighed, "Alright, Sullivan, figured this might happen. Go down a level to docking bay 3 and you'll find the _Impetuous_ , captained by Jay Reece. He's a supply runner, and his ship will be leaving in three hours for the same system we're going to. Book passage and you can catch up with us, understood?"

"Yes, captain, thank you."

Relief, startling warm, pooled into his stomach and Arthur took in a calming breath. His earlier panic subsided, the uncomfortable cold seeped from his body and Arthur drew on the reassurance of Richards' words to keep him grounded. They would be waiting for him then, in the Alpha Centauri System*, and it was not that far a trip from the Hornhead space station, only a week and if the _Impetuous_ left three hours from now it would arrive during the _Spirit of Adventure's_ shore leave so Arthur would be able to find his ship before it took off again.

Retracing his steps, Arthur walked back to the escalators, passing humans and aliens that he had hurried by only minutes before. The dirty looks he got assured Arthur that they remembered him and, hopeful to avoid any more confrontations, the lad ducked his head and tried to make himself look as small as possible. Thankfully he made it to the lower level without ticking off anyone and Arthur allowed himself to breathe easier.

Making his way to the docking bays where smaller ships could fully dock, Arthur had almost reached the third one, sidestepping cargo that different crews were unloading from one bay or another, when he saw a familiar, tall figure standing to the side of docking bay two. It was a Yautja, and Arthur was pretty sure it was the same Predator that had unintentionally saved him from those three junked up humans. Or at least he thought so, until he passed the hunter and looked at him. The Yautja glanced at him as he passed, before turning to speak with the alien captain of the docked ship in bay two, Sullivan hesitated before continuing on his way. The coloring looked identical yet the Predator had showed no signs of knowing him so perhaps he was not the same hunter.

Shrugging, Arthur made it to docking bay three and walked in. The _Impetuous_ was smaller than the _Spirit of Adventure_ , probably only requiring a three-man crew, possibly four. Arthur hoped they had room for him.

"Captain Reece?" Arthur called out, not seeing anyone near the vicinity of the ship. Some cargo was stacked around, probably waiting for pickup or to be delivered.

"He's not here," a seemingly genial voice said, and a man walked out from behind some of the boxed cargo, a clipboard in one hand where he had obviously been jotting down information related to the shipment.

Arthur froze and as the man raised his eyes to look at him recognition lit up those brown eyes until they blazed with hot fury. "You!"

Deciding to curse his luck later, Arthur spun around and headed for the bay doors as fast as he could. Swift the younger human might have been but it was a universal truth that docking bar doors never opened quickly, heavy and thick as they were, speed was just never a factor. The clatter of the clipboard on the metal floor and footsteps pursuing made Arthur stick his hands through the widening crack the doors were making and push in hopes of opening them faster.

Arthur was not sure if it actually helped, but as soon as there was enough space to squeezer through the boy leapt for safety. The hands that closed around Arthur jerked him off his escape path and dragged him back through the now fully opened doors. Sullivan managed to get off a yell before a hand clapped firmly over his mouth and he fought against the bruising grip that held him. Struggling, Arthur was turned around and he had just enough to see the angry face sneering at him before white hot pain sliced through his stomach, and his vision was filled with the sight of the bloody knife preparing for a second strike before he blacked out.

 **AN: Should I do a POV from the Yautja's perspective? Or just keep it from Arthur's POV? Also, based on the Predator's description does anyone have any cool name ideas?**

* _the Alpha Centauri System is the closest star system to our Solar System._


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you all for your patience and the support you're giving this story! A special thanks to those who suggested names for my Yautja character since I was struggling a little bit there, I decided to go with** _ **Cityhunterluv's**_ **suggestion, but I might hold your name idea,** _ **ahsoka1996**_ **, in case I bring in more Predators which likely will happen.**

 **Species reading this story:**

 **Ooman female – 1**

 **Predator – 1**

 **Xenomorph – 1 (I suggest you stay out of sight of the Yautja)**

 **Human – 1**

 **{Ka'Anu POV) (He's the Yautja we met last chapter!)**

Ka'Anu was an experienced hunter with more than sixty seasons of collecting trophies since his Chiva under his belt. He had seen many things in his ninety years of life but that did not mean he was through glimpsing anything new, it just meant there was not much that could surprise him any more. Or so the tall Predator thought.

The small human male running into him, while an annoyance, was not anything too surprising or new. True, most species', especially humans, tended to give the Yautja race a wide berth still it had been known for one to bump into a hunter now and then when their smaller minds' were on other matters. Or when they were being pursued for whatever reason.

He had looked over the three humans who had run after the one caught in his hand with a disinterested glance. The young one he was holding was afraid, of him or the humans Ka'Anu did not know nor did he particularly care. Roaring in the male's face had been a bit of fun, but Ka'Anu was not seriously offended by the action, especially when he saw the reason why the human had not been paying attention. He had not calculated the move, there had been no thought to shifting his leg back other than it gave him a better stance should the three originally-angry-but-now-terrified humans try something while he was there. Ka'Anu was all for fighting with the odds stacked against him, that's what made the hunt exciting, but when he was an adolescent being ganged upon was not fun and so a small part of him commiserated with the young human for fleeing when he had three larger opponents after him.

When the humans had fled Ka'Anu had felt scorn and dropped the human he was holding as one would an object not worth holding anymore. The hunter had been willing to let the four humans fight out their differences right there, with him making sure it stay one-on-one, but the three who had fled were cowards and, as he sniffed the air, recovering from having drugged themselves up at some point earlier.

Ka'Anu made sure the remaining human was focused on before he had dropped him, then he given the only reprimand he knew without speaking. The young human had been foolish, getting three druggies angry at him and then running into a part of the station that was not safe for juveniles. The Hornheads provided security and kept an eye out for troublemakers but they could not be everywhere at once so some criminals, if acting carefully, were never caught. The Yautja had found more than one adolescent dishonored by vile bad-bloods( **Not necessarily meaning bad-blood Yautja here, just his term for criminals** ), and, while not an Arbiter, he had accepted the Hornheads' commission to hunt them down. In return for this service all of his refueling and docking fees were cut in half, a fair trade in Ka'Anu's mind.

The human chastised, Ka'Anu waited for the young one to scamper off back to the central part of the station where more life was but the human remained put. His smell was uncertain, and the Predator was just about to nudge him along when a beeping noise made the human jump and Ka'Anu almost did the same.

The human's fear spiked when he looked at his wrist and then he was off, saying something in his language before he left. Ka'Anu stood motionless, allowing the human to put some distance between them before he started off. No need to make the young one think he was being pursued.

Ka'Anu had hunted humans, on a few colonial outposts the inquisitive species had set up here and there, but he soon tired of it. The humans were the most bizarre race he had ever seen, and he soon found he liked watching and noting their habits rather than hunting them. So he spent some time collecting data for future hunters, conducting research on why some families had protective parents and others did not. Then there were the customs, it seemed that depending on what region the humans came from on the home planet they would have a variety of customs and a different way of speaking. Ka'Anu gave up trying to learn any of the languages, thinking at first it would be beneficial to the hunt to know how to speak a few words but the Predator mouth was just not built for it. There were translators Yautja could install in their helmets but Ka'Anu had never gotten one, his study of the humans having come to an end after a couple of months when the need to hunt a trophy had overcome him. Since then contact with humans had been limited to spaceports as he passed through and he had been all for it keeping it that way, but this little scamp that ran into him, for some reason Ka'Anu thought of him again, as the Yautja made his way to the Hornhead's office who was in charge of the station.

He usually stopped there first after he docked, to see if the Hornheads had anyone for him to hunt down. His last trophy hunt had been two weeks ago and he was not scheduled to return to the Yautja home-world for another three months, so keeping busy before mating season was the best way to make sure he did not laze about.

Another upside to keeping busy was not feeling the loneliness that usually crept up upon him when he spent hours alone on his ship. While Yautja were not the most social of creatures there were clans where the males traveled together in one big ship, but Ka'Anu's clan was not like that and the black and green Predator blamed his time among the humans for his need for company.

Ka'Anu put all thought of the young human out of his mind when he received an assignment from the Hornheads. Going to the docking bays, the Yautja went to the second one in search of the water creature who captained a tourist ship. The captain, a water creature encased in a black aqua-suit and helmet that let it live out of the water, was very accommodating, babbling out the full story via a translation device the Hornheads had supplied Ka'Anu with during his station visit, but as with the station's security cameras the assailant had not been seen.

 _This was going to be a tough hunt_ , Ka'Anu thought, and then he smirked. _Those are always the best kind_.

Just to be thorough, Ka'Anu grilled the water alien for more information, casting a glance at someone passing by. Only his years of training and experience kept the Yautja from being startled by the familiar heat signature of the young human male. What were the odds that they would see each other again on this floor? Of course, the human's ship might be in the docking bay, it would not be all that of a coincidence but the runt he had rescued earlier did not seem to know where he was going. Was is it Paya's will that he look after this young human who would surely die if left to his own devices?

Huffing, Ka'Anu wrapped up his business, watching out of the side of his _dai-shui_ as the human entered the next docking bay. Perhaps he was merely running an errand? Or was he looking for someone? Ka'Anu was too interested now to turn away, besides he had already saved the human's life once, inadvertently as it had been at the time, so it only made since to make sure the _pyode-amedha_ continued to stay alive at this point.

Beginning to walk towards the third docking bay, Ka'Anu was unsure what he should do. Should he go in? Or wait in corridor to see if the male human would come back out?

It mattered not what Ka'Anu decided for the decision was taken out of his hands. The docking bay doors opened and while the Predator could not see anyone from the angle he was standing at he did hear the cut-off yell. It was filled with surprise and fear, the air was thick with the scent of a cornered prey knowing escape was fruitless but trying it anyway. The smell of blood quickly overlaid every other scent around and Ka'Anu jumped forward into the now completely opened docking bay doorway.

He knew both heat signatures in the infrared vision of his _dai-shui_. One was the human who had run into him, and the other was the middle human who had been chasing the younger. The weapon registered, a knife that was already starting for its target again, driven by a steady hand that showed no signs of drugs.

Before the knife could hit the victim again, Ka'Anu wrapped a hand around the attacking human, yanking him back. He heaved the human up, throwing him against the closest wall and the bleeding runt fell to the floor. The Yautja ignored his human for the moment, preferring to focus his attention on the two new humans who had just appeared on the ramp from the ship.

They too were familiar on Ka'Anu's screen, the other members of the drugged up trio that had chased the human who had run into him. They took one look at him and at their companion, shifting and no doubt wondering what to do.

"Stand down," Ka'Anu said, his words translated for all the humans to hear. "Hornhead security has already been alerted and will be here in a few minutes. If you two," he pointed to the newcomers, "don't want to arrested for assault like your friend here I suggest you stay where you are." Perhaps it was the fact that they could understand him that made the humans obey him, either way Ka'Anu did not care. They all stayed put, "Wise decision."

Ka'Anu took a couple steps back to get the wounded human in his sights again, quickly noting that the _pyode-amedha_ was unconscious. _Thwei_ pooled out from the weeping wound, making the heat lines flare around the body and various parts of the human began to cool. The wounded human, his human, needed medical care but Ka'Anu was not sure if he could do anything while the other two humans were there. They could have weapons underneath their jackets and jump him the second he knelt down to assist the wounded one.

Making a decision quickly, Ka'Anu activated his shoulder gun and pointed it at the two motionless humans, who, if possible, froze even more in their places. Then he knelt down and placed a hand against the jagged wound, tilting his _dai-shui_ to scan it, the Predator flared his mandibles slightly in annoyance. Looking at the knife he saw that the blade was not smooth, but rather had curved sides so sharp that he had shredded the everything it had come into contact with on the way in and out.

Holding pressure to the wound, Ka'Anu looked at the human he had knocked out. The larger male was still there, out cold, and that was the best way to be in the Predator's opinion. He would have happily snapped the human's neck, but as he had walked in on the situation it was not his call to make. It was the Hornhands and possibly the unconscious human's.

Security finally arrived and the three humans were taken into custody, while a stretcher was brought for the wounded one. The ship was impounded pending an investigation and the captain was confined quarters on the station, though he proclaimed his innocence in either the drug trafficking or knifing the Hornheads were convinced. Ka'Anu wiped the _thwei_ from his hand as he gave his report on the incident, as well as what he had witnessed earlier.

The station commander, Hash'Shim, met Ka'Anu at the infirmary two hours later, both of them wanting to check up on the wounded human's condition.

"His name is Arthur Sullivan, he was left behind after failing to make it back to his ship before it was set to disembark. I believe he was coming to see Captain Reece to book passage to a system where he could rendezvous with his own ship."

The human would live, thanks to Ka'Anu's work in keeping the wound from bleeding out anymore than it had. The Yautja looked at the sleeping human on the bio-bed and a plan formed in his mind, one that he was sure the human would not like but really it was the only course to take, the honorable course to take and the human was indebted to him twice over anyway.

"Will you resume the assignment I gave you?" Hash'Shim asked.

Ka'Anu flexed his arms, turning to look at the Hornhead, "I solved that case already. You see," the Yautja could not help smirking as the commander's scent changed to one of shock, "the tourist ship captain falsified a report. Most likely to use as an excuse to business dropping, which he could use to sue you. I thought it would be an interesting hunt at first, until I out the clues together. No witnesses, no security cameras capturing the crime, and yet a crime was reported and the captain contradicted himself more than once. I was distracted by the humans at the time, but I was thinking about everything he said on my way here and his downfall was that he was too talkative."

Hash'Shim growled in irritation, "He will be lucky if I do not impound his ship for this!"

Ka'Anu said nothing, but the human was beginning to come around so the Predator waited for this Arthur Sullivan to wake up.

 **AN: What is Ka'Anu going to do? How was the Predator's point of view? Let me know if you see any errors or typos.**

 **Yautja Language:**

 _Dai-shui_ = Yautja mask

 _Pyode-amedha_ = soft meat(term usually used for humans)

 _Thwei_ \- blood


	4. Chapter 4

**Fallen: Thanks for the review and compliment. Oh, and I just took this long to update to see if you really could wait patiently, lol.**

 **GreatUncleOne: Hope you're ready for this.**

 **Species reading this story:**

 **Ooman female - 1**

 **Predator – 1**

 **Xenomorph - 1**

 **Human - 1**

 **{Arthur}**

Groaning, Arthur blinked his heavy eyelids, moving his arm to swipe at his eyes yet the hand was halted by something wrapped around his wrist. Blearily he opened his eyes and looked down at what was holding his hand captive. A wire was taped to his wrist, and by the feel of it there was a needle stuck in a vein under that tape.

Arthur took a couple of seconds to situate himself, his foggy brain trying to understand why he was laying in a med unit and why his stomach was bandaged. Like being doused by a bucket of icy water, Arthur remembered with sudden clarity of how he walked into the docking bay and met one of the humans who had chased him earlier. His free hand went to his bandaged abdomen, feeling slightly sick as he remembered the slice of the knife as it cut through him as if he were a stick of butter.

A large reptilian-looking hand grabbed his own, startling him so bad that the heart monitor next to the bio bed spiked. Arthur jerked as he looked up into the cold facemask of a Yautja, and not just any Predator but the exact same one he had run into earlier. Arthur was sure it was the same one, the coloring matched and really how many other Yautja could there be with the same markings?

"Arthur Sullivan?" The voice caught the human's attention, a large Hornhead was standing beside the Predator, and Arthur was surprised to see that even the Yautja was taller than the station's owners, "Are you coherent?"

Arthur swallowed, "Yes." His own voice was hoarse and his throat ached, but he was aware of everything, even the pain that was starting to register from his sliced abdomen.

"Good. I am Hash'Shim, the station commander, and I have a few questions for you about the incident that took place in docking bay three, which resulted in you getting stabbed." The Hornhead looked across the human, to the physician who was standing nearby, "Any objections?"

The doctor, a black skinned, hairless alien, shook his head, "None, just don't move him and don't let him touch the bandage."

The Hornhead, Hash'Shim, nodded, "Why were you going to docking bay three?"

"I went there to book passage," Arthur whispered, "I, I got left behind by my ship, and my captain said to go there and talk to the captain of the _Impetuous_." Fruitlessly the boy licked his lips, but his tongue was just as dry, "Please, may I have some water?"

The Hornhead looked at the physician, who shook his head, "I am sorry, but you won't be able to have fluids for awhile. The knife sliced your stomach lining, and it will take a few hours for the medicine to repair the damage."

"Why were you attacked?" Hash'Shim asked.

"The man who knifed me, he recognized me. Earlier I had stumbled upon him and three others beating up an alien behind a bar, they were angry with him, saying he had cheated them. They knifed him. When they saw me I ran, and they followed."

Hash'Shim nodded, looking thoughtful, "Those were the missing facts I needed for this case to make sense. We found the body of a low-level merchant behind a cantina, knifed, and carrying a large stash of both high and low quality drugs. When Ka'Anu," he gestured to the Yautja beside him, "mentioned coming across a human being pursued by three drug users I had thought the two incidents might be connected, were it not for him identifying your attacker and his two crewmates as the three who pursued I would have been truly lost in making sense of it all. So, murder, attempted murder and assisting in said murder will make for a tighter case against them. Very good." Hash'Shim looked up from his datapad, locking eyes with Arthur, "Now, what to do with you?"

"He should stay here for at least a day," the physician interjected.

"Where will your ship be?"

Arthur shook his head, "I don't know." Depending on what jobs he took and the cargo that had to be moved around, Richards could be heading anywhere by that point.

"Well then," Hash'Shim, "we will have to find a way to contact them for you and most likely—"

"The human is not yours to worry about."

Arthur blinked up at the Yautja in surprise, as did the physician and the Hornhead. For Arthur it was more the shock of the Predator speaking English, then the hunter's words registered and he was completely baffled at what Ka'Anu meant.

"Wha—" Arthur started to croak but Hash'Shim cut him off.

"What do you mean, Ka'Anu?"

The Predator looked down at the human, "I saved your life two times, you owe me a life debt twice over. You are stranded, without friends or a way of catching your ship at any port quickly. I am enacting a Yautja code of honor, you enter a term of service to me, as a servant, until I deem the debts repaid. When that time comes, I will drop you off at your home planet or one of its colonies. Until then you will come with me wherever I go, whether it is on a hunt or to my home-world. You will clean my armor, prepare my meals, clean my ship, and whatever else I order you to do. When your injury is fully healed I will teach you how to defend yourself, as you are lacking a great many skills one needs for preserving their survival. In return for your service I will provide the materials for clothing, food, and my protection against any who would trouble you, even those of my own race. However, while in service to me no additional length of time will be added in return for the care and protection I provide, that is merely my duty while you repay your debt."

Arthur was too shocked to speak, and when he finally did find his voice to mount a protest the Yautja had already left the Infirmary. Blinking stupidly, Arthur was sure he had hallucinated the whole think until the Hornhead spoke.

"Well, with that settled then I will leave you to finish your recovery in peace. I have much to do, besides putting those three humans on trial." Hash'Shim had gotten over his surprise at the Yautja's words and was all business again, he stopped Arthur when the boy opened his mouth, "You needn't worry about having to testify. We have the camera footage from the docking bay, as well as Ka'Anu's testimony, and I recorded my interview of you so once your wound is healed you will be free to go with your new master."

Hash'Shim left, and Arthur's heart monitor spiked once again, bringing the physician to his side in an instant. "Told them not to agitate you," the doctor grumbled, checking the bandage for signs of blood before preparing a hypo needle. "I'm going to sedate you for a few hours, by then you should be able to have liquids again and be much calmer to understand your situation."

"No! No please!" Arthur raised one hand uselessly, trying to punch the physician who quickly grabbed it. "I don't want to be sedated! Don't!"

"Stop struggling," the doctor pinned Arthur's hand to the bed with an arm, while he then used his own hands to find the connecting line to the tubing that ran to Arthur's other bound hand. "You'll tear your wound open!"

"No!" Arthur yelled, his voice cracking, as he watched helplessly while the needle entered the connecting line, and the blue liquid flowed into the tubing and ran down towards his hand. He tried shaking his hand, trapped as it was, but it was pointless and the sedative entered his bloodstream without a problem.

 _I won't be a slave_ , Arthur thought sluggishly before he was dragged into darkness.

 **{Ka'Anu}**

The Predator was pleased with himself, doubly so. He had solved not only his loneliness problem, without having to find another Yautja male who's company he could tolerate, and he had a perfect excuse to teach the human youngling defense. It had irked the warrior to see a person who could fight back, humans were fighters and quite efficient on protecting themselves even without training, but this runt had been pathetic. Without Ka'Anu being around, Arthur Sullivan would not have survived his visit to the Hornhead station, and had the human gone on who knew how long he would have lasted on his own.

No, it was better that Ka'Anu take him under his tutelage, if only to ease his conscious. Younglings should not be left so helpless. Granted, the human boy had been outnumbered at first but the second time Sullivan had tried to run instead of trying to grab something to defend himself.

Ka'Anu shook his head sadly. He had seen the camera footage from the docking bay, while having good flight instincts was important it was also necessary to not be completely overridden by panic. And Sullivan had panicked, so badly in fact that the youngling had tried to escape with haste through docking bay doors. Docking bar doors! One of the slowest moving set of doors in existence, of that Ka'Anu was certain.

Sullivan's parents had failed to teach him, the teachers he had in school had failed to teach him, his ship captain and crewmates had failed in their duties as well. Therefore it was left to Ka'Anu to fill the large gap of the boy's education that was missing, namely self-defense and knowing when it's best to fight or flee. Ka'Anu was especially going to make sure that his new servant/protégé knew the important of staying out of areas where a runt like him had no business being, not unless he wanted to fall into situations like he had done. Honestly, going to an alley behind a bar? What was he doing near a bar anyway?

Ka'Anu grumbled as he reached his ship, his plan finally catching up with him. Now he had to find a place for the runt to sleep, as well as make sure that he had food that would be acceptable to the human palate. Of clothes the Yautja was not worried, he had plenty of animal furs on board that Arthur could use once his own coverings started to wear down.

Going through his own room, Ka'Anu found a tracking device and he paused as he held it. Something like this he usually used when wanting to find a prey again that at the time the Predator did not have time to take as a prize. However, with a few modifications it could be used to keep track of new companion.

Thinking carefully, Ka'Anu put the tracking device back on the shelf. He would prepare it but slapping it on the runt would not exude trust, and trust was important if this arrangement was going to work. So, unless Sullivan forced his hand, the device would not be used. Ka'Anu was certain he would not have to use it, after all once the human was healed they would be on their way and it would be some time before they docked somewhere. In that time the human would come to learn that Ka'Anu really did have his best interest in mind.

Ka'Anu grinned as he thought back to how he had told the human his plan. He had learned from his time studying the humans that they had two ways of doing things, bluntly or with subtlety. The Predator could have just said that he was going near a human colony and then, once the human was on board, use tactics to convince the human to stay with him. However, that way was not very honorable and a recipe for an Arbiter to intervene. By enacting a life-debt, and informing witnesses of his intentions, Ka'Anu was well within his rights to take Sullivan as a servant until the debts were honored.

Hopefully, being blunt with his intentions was the correct way, as well as with holding a choice of complying. Another trick he had learned from the humans, they were either given choices or backed into a corner so they had no other means than to accept.

Ka'Anu sat down in the pilot's chair, leaning back as he looked out the front window. No more lonely days as he sailed from one end of the galaxy to the next. No more temptation to talk to himself, if only for the sake of hearing a sound other then the thrum of the engines. No more eating his own cooking, humans liked to spice their food in ways he had never tasted before and had no talent in duplicating.

All of that was going to change now. He was going to have a companion, someone to talk to and train, someone who would do all the chores around the ship that Ka'Anu hated doing. Life was going to be good.

 **AN: How was that? Anyone see Ka'Anu doing that? Oh, just in case you're thinking that when Ka'Anu speaks he doesn't sound very Yautja, just remember he is using a translator, which he will have to give back once he leaves the station. Life should be interesting between Ka'Anu and Arthur once a language barrier goes up between them, eh?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Logicrazik: Thanks for the review!**

 **Crazilogic: Thanks, are you and Logicrazik the same person? Lol**

 **FD: Glad you liked it, thanks.**

 **Matt: What human girl and what alien?**

 **This story is currently being read by:**

Ooman female – 1

Predator – 1

Xenomorph – 1

Human – 1

Yautja trained ooman male and his Yautja bonded mate – (does this count for one or two?)

 **Don't forget to get yourself added to the tally, who's attracted more to this story: Yautja, human, or xenomorph?**

 **AN: I like to call this chapter: In which Arthur's second awakening ends worst than his first.**

{Arthur}

Arthur awoke drowsily, blinking sluggishly as he looked up at the ceiling above him. Slowly looking to the left and then to the right, Arthur found that he was alone in the medical bay and he gradually pushed himself up into a sitting position. He waited until he felt steady, when the drug the physician had used to sedate him finished cycling out of his system.

The more aware he became, the angrier Arthur felt. If that Yautja warrior thought he would just sit around, and quietly be made a slave than that eight-foot monster had another thing coming. Arthur was not going to go down without a fight, his father had been a fighter and had never let anyone push him over, and Arthur was sure he would not have let even a great being such as a Yautja shove him around.

No, Arthur was going to fight, and he was going to teach that Predator a thing or two. So inspired, the human disentangled himself the bed and stood up. Immediately his head swam and his knees buckled, Arthur bit back a scream as his healing abdomen protested the movement.

Breathing heavily, one hand clutching the bedclothes while the other arm was wrapped around his middle, Arthur gritted his teeth and hissed in pain. Lifting his shirt a bit, Arthur was relieved not to see any blood seeping through the bandaging, he had not torn open the newly healed over skin then, that was good. However, the wound was still tender and the boy was sure that the slightest exertion on his part would tear it open.

Well then, if he could not fight, then he would flee.

On unsteady legs, Arthur slowly made his way to the door and walked out, grabbing his jacket as he did so. He was not sure where the clothes had come from that he was currently wearing, they were not his and a size too big, but better that than nothing. The jacket though was a keepsake from his father, one of those old-style vintage leather jackets that actually had a fur in-lining that made it perfect for space exploration. Arthur bitterly wondered how much Thomas Arlington would have offered him for it had the navigator known that little piece of information.

' _Should count myself lucky I never bragged about it_.'

Once outside of the medical bay, Arthur carefully looked around as he stepped into the flowing traffic. All he had to do was find a human vessel and sneak aboard, once they left the station he could make himself known to the crew and explain that he had been escaping a kidnapping alien. That would make them sympathetic, right?

Arthur was halfway to the docking bays when he heard an angry bellow far behind him. The Yautja had found him missing.

{Ka'Anu}

Losing his temper was not something Ka'Anu was new to. Like any Yautja, the lone hunter had lost his temper on quite a few occasions, especially in his juvenile age and early adulthood. Still, many of those times the Predator was in situations that were clearly rage provoking ones. At no time could Ka'Anu think of being completely taken by surprise or shocked into a temperamental response.

Never, in all his years, did Ka'Anu think that walking into a medical bay would make him angry. The room where one went to be healed was not supposed to induce anger, in either the patients or the visitors, so Ka'Anu could be forgiven for being wholly unprepared by what he found when he entered the medical bay. The human was gone, and the physician was five seconds away from having his neck snapped.

Upon entering the medical bay, Ka'Anu stopped at seeing the bed empty that his newly acquired human had occupied. The physician was wringing his hands together in great agitation, and looked upon the Predator's entrance as one would the approach on a hangman. A look around the room showed that the human was nowhere in sight, but Ka'Anu did not worry for it was possible that Arthur Sullivan was merely getting cleaned up in the washroom.

Or thus Ka'Anu would have thought, had it not been for the physician's odd behavior.

"Where is he?" When the physician merely stuttered, Ka'Anu felt his patience snap, A quick move forward and he had a grip on the alien's shirt, "Where is he?"

"I don't know!" The physician whined, "He was right here! I left for five minutes, I swear it wasn't more than that, and when I came back he was gone!"

It took a second for Ka'Anu to process that, to understand that the human he had granted passage on his ship to, had fled. That the juvenile human was cowardly was not something the Predator had thought possible, not after Arthur's run-ins with the druggies. When Ka'Anu understood he roared, the sound vibrating off the walls and carrying outside the medical bay, making all the sentient life forms who heard it take pause, except for one small human who doubled his pace.

Shoving the physician away, Ka'Anu activated his com to alert security. "Monitor him only, _I_ am taking him."

So determined, Ka'Anu stepped into the crowded hallway and opened his sense of smell. Most species' thought that the Yautja did not have a great sense of smell, because they had no noticeable nostrils, but Predators smelled a different way. While a Predator breathes in and out through its mouth, which never fully closes, the tiny flexible spikes along its head are what filters and identifies the smells around the hunter. Using a helmet the range of a Yautja's smell can be amplified. It did not take long for Ka'Anu to identify the smell of his human out of the many who passed, and once he had it the hunter was on the trail.

The Predator's anger was even more incensed when he very quickly realized that Arthur Sullivan was headed for the docking bays. No doubt looking for a ship he could sneak on and thus escape the Predator that he owed a life debt to. However, knowing the human's destination granted Ka'Anu a couple seconds to stop by his own ship and pick up a little something.

{Arthur}

Arthur knew he was not one hundred percent healthy when he could feel a chill settling in his bones. Walking as much as he had at a quick pace had also not been a good idea, his stomach ached, the sealed over wound being tugged with every step he took. Yet with his only other option being to stay put and wait till the Yautja returned to drag him off like a slave, well, Arthur was having none of it.

Making his way to the docking bays, Arthur walked to docking bay one and read the info chart by the door. The ship docked there was not human, but Arthur had not expected it to be that easy. The second one was also not human, and approaching the third made Arthur wary, he had been stabbed here after all, but the ship that had taken the place of the _Impetuous_ was also not human.

Huffing now in annoyance, and hiding his worry that maybe there was no human ship docked at the moment, Arthur approached bay four. Some cargo crates had been stacked to the side of the hallway and Sullivan stepped near them, peering into the opened docking bay. He was relieved to see a couple humans moving around but there were aliens as well, he would have to wait and see who the ship belong to for the crates covered the info chart.

While he waited, Arthur heard a commotion behind him and looked over a crate. Teams unloading cargo were cursing and yelling, and above the din Arthur could hear the annoyed clicking of a Yautja. Panic flooded his system so suddenly that the boy had no time to think or plan, he just bolted.

Running down the hallway, past the docking bays, no idea where he was going, Arthur ran for his very life.

 _I won't be a slave_!

His run was not smooth, and while the adrenaline rush blocked the pain from his wound registering, his legs stumbled over the even grating. His fast breaths burned his lungs, as if he was running outside on a cold morning back on Earth. The fact that all sounds and signs of life soon faded away did not register in Arthur's mind, his only goal was to get away as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, the direction Arthur was running in led nowhere directly. Or, the reader may look at it differently and be thankful that the hallway was a deadend, so that Ka'Anu can catch up to Arthur. After all, we're all getting eager for Ka'Anu to get Arthur on his ship and see what adventures come their way, aren't we?

Arthur turned the corner, and staggered into the wall as he looked before him. A deadend, the hallway led nowhere, now what was he supposed to do?

Gasping, Arthur bent over, trying to catch his breath and calm his galloping heart. It thundered in his ears and his throat hurt from the rush to breathe. Wildly he looked about, trying to see anything that would help him. It was a testament to how affected he was by his condition that Arthur did not see the ladder right away.

It was in the corner of the deadend, and it came up through the floor and disappeared into the ceiling.

Moving clumsily, Arthur made his way over to the ladder and identified the mechanism to work the hatches that sealed the floor and ceiling entrances. Pushing the green button and see the hatch above him open, Arthur grasped the rungs of the ladder and started to climb up. He was over a third of the way into the tube-like system when he felt a large hand curl around his ankle and pull.

Arthur yelled out, his hands slipping out of their hold on the rungs, unable to cling to the ladder because of the suddenness of the Predator's arrival. For it was the Yautja who pulled him from the ladder, keeping one hand on the human's ankle as he held his prize aloft. Held upside down, and shaken, Arthur could do nothing but cry out in indignation and fright.

When he was dropped and hit the floor, a small voice at the back of Arthur's mind told him he should just stay put. But the Sullivans were Irish, and a good Irishman never walks away from a fight, not even those he knows he's going to lose. Arthur scrambled to his feet, injury forgotten, and used everything he knew about hand-to-hand combat to attack the 8-foot Yautja in front of him.

Arthur punched the yellow colored abdomen, but it was so finely toned that the human might as well have been hitting a rock. The Predator stood there, looking down on the angered and scared human, and Arthur yelled in frustration when he heard the Yautja laughing at him. Spinning about, lifting his leg for a kick, Arthur snapped his foot out and hit the one place that any bipedal male of every species hates getting hurt.

The hunter actually yelped, startling Arthur, and dropped to the floor in apparent agony. Not wasting time to cheer his good fortune, Arthur circled around the Yautja and started to hobble down the hallway. He did not get far. A roar of fury, unlike all the others the human had heard since landing on the space station, and Arthur had a moment to register the heavy hand that grabbed his shoulder and wrenched it backwards.

Arthur screamed, feeling the muscles and most likely the bones as well pull out of place and stretch beyond their normal parameters. He swung a fist madly, blindly in the direction of Ka'Anu's helmet and scored a hit off the metal surface that did little good except bruise his hand. Human and Yautja grappled for a few moments, Arthur determined to get loose and Ka'Anu just as equally determined to keep ahold of the teenager.

Twisting and turning in desperation, Arthur gave no heed to his abdomen, which was barely a day old, and it certainly escaped Ka'Anu's mind. Until Arthur screamed, sagging in the Yautja's grip, as his hands instinctively wrapped around his middle. He did not have to lift his shirt to see what had happened, he could feel it; blood was already starting to soak the bandage.

His Irish heritage would have to fight another day, right now Sullivan was going to rest.

So centered on his injury, Arthur was not aware of anything until he felt a cold metal tighten around his wrist.

{Ka'Anu}

That the young human thought he could fight off a Yautja of Ka'Anu's stature and experience was laughable. The low blow to the Predator's anatomy and pride taught the hunter that no matter a human's level of intelligence and experience he should not underestimate them. There was a reason, after all, why hunting humans was still popular.

Still, to hit him like a female would to cut down a pompous male, that was too much to bear.

So, K'Anu's temper snapped and he would admit later, to himself, that he had been a bit rougher than he should have been.

When the human screamed and went still, Ka'Anu tightened his grip but the smell of blood quickly flooded his senses. The human juvenile's wound had reopened, and, for the moment, Ka'Anu was smarting too much from the kick to think anything other than that the human got what he deserved. Taking a moment, Ka'Anu took a small metal bracelet out of a pouch on his belt and snapped it over the human's wrist.

The human looked up at him, wide-eyed, and Ka'Anu grinned under his mask, "Tracking device, runt, no matter where you run I'll find you. So do us both a favor and stay put."

Snorting, Ka'Anu lifted his _eta_ * and slung him over one shoulder. A bit awkward since Arthur was still trying to hold his middle with at least one arm, but Ka'Anu gave his human no time to get situated before he started walking. The sooner they made it to his ship, the faster they could leave this place and Ka'Anu could work on building trust with the human. The tracking device might be overreacting, but frankly the Yautja was too angry to regret doing it now.

The people Ka'Anu passed by scrambled to get out of his way, some throwing sympathetic glances at the whimpering human dangling over his shoulder. The Predator was thankful to reach his ship before any the humans watching started to think they should rescue his 'prisoner'. Hash'Shim was waiting by his ship when Ka'Anu approached and the Predator knew he was there to collect the translating device. Not for the first time since acquiring his human, Ka'Anu wished he had gotten translation upgrade to his helmet when he was last on his clan ship.

"Will he require medical attention?" Hash'Shim asked, but raised a hairless eyebrow when Ka'Anu shook his head.

"I will see to his injures myself." Disconnecting the translator one handed, Ka'Anu handed it over and boarded his ship.

{Arthur}

He knew instantly when he was on the Predator's ship, the climate change was very noticeable. Arthur knew that the Yautja mesh suits provided them with warmth, but the heat flowing through the ship was practically suppressive. Almost as if someone had set the sauna on high.

Arthur had no view of where they were going, just of what the Predator passed, and so far it looked anything but inviting. Dark, corridors, red lighting, a fog that flowed a little above the Yautja's ankles, all in all not exactly a vacation spot Arthur would have picked. He almost giggled at the thought, then sobered with a groan when the Predator's shoulder hit the side of his abdomen.

Was it the pain or the hopelessness of Arthur's situation that made him lightheaded and almost hysterical?

When Arthur was plopped down a cold metal table he bit a yell, clutching his stomach as he grit his teeth and looked at Ka'Anu. The Yautja was at a smaller table, picking up a large tube that looked like a toothpaste tube and squirting some blue glowing goo into a bowl.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, distracting himself from the pain but also wanting to know. He looked around the room, and his heartbeat skyrocketed, the Predator glanced his way for a moment before going back to his task. The room was filled with strange devices, and sharp cutting tools. "So, that's it then?" Arthur blinked back tears, a shaky laugh escaping his throat. "You just spun that yarn about life debts and servitude to please the Hornheads, didn't you? You're going to carve me up, aren't you? Mount my head and spine on your trophy wall and show it up, 'Here's the naïve human who thought he could get away'! That's it, isn't it? Well go ahead! Better to die that be a slave!"

Arthur spat the last word, his anger rising, fueled by pain and humiliation.

The Yautja said nothing, but he did finish mixing the blue goo and brought the bowl over to the table Arthur was lying on. Without a word, the Predator known as Ka'Anu placed one hand on Arthur's chest, pinning him in place, with the other he pulled back the boy's shirt and activated his wrist blades. Arthur froze, not daring to move as the blades dipped down slowly against his skin, only to slip in under the bandage and rip it away.

"Wha—" Arthur cut off himself when he saw his abdomen, bleeding sluggishly now but definitely looking the worse for wear. He almost missed Ka'Anu scooping up some of the blue goo in a wooden scoop.

Arthur had seen similar stuff to the blue goo before, back on Earth. Anytime he had gotten a cough his mother would give him some cough medicine, which could only be best described as blue ooze. That stuff had been cold, freezing his throat as he swallowed and it had worked well in getting rid of his cough.

Arthur quickly learned that the blue goo Ka'Anu had mixed up was nothing like the cough medicine his mother had given him.

The Yautja spread the glowing mixture over Arthur's wound, burning hot pain sliced through the human, seeming to ignite his organs on fire. He screamed, thrashing and kicking, and the Predator had to grab his arms to keep him from trying to scrape the blue goo off his abdomen. Arthur remembered his eyes tearing up, sobbing and begging, before the pain became too great and he blacked out.

 ****IMPORTANT AN****

 **Merry Christmas! Hope you guys liked your gift, listen, I most likely will not update next week so look for me in January. Hope you guys have a great Christmas and if you have snow, please send a little our way because we need it. But only a little mind, if someone sends a blizzard I'm not updating till February, you have been warned.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So, when I said look for me in January, I actually meant February.**

 **This story is currently being read by:**

Ooman female – 1

Predator – 1

Xenomorph – 1

Human – 1

Yautja trained ooman male and his Yautja bonded mate – (does this count for one or two?)

 **Don't forget to get yourself added to the tally, who's attracted more to this story: Yautja, human, or xenomorph?**

{Arthur}

When Arthur opened his eyes he gasped in pain, his hands reaching to clutch his stomach but he was surprised when his fingers touched whole skin. No blood marred his hands, and he looked down in wonder to see a bright patch of red skin where he had been stabbed. Poking the healed over wound revealed the area to be numb, and the pain Arthur felt was merely a phantom presence that slowly ebbed away.

Moving with sore muscles, Arthur was well and truly tired of waking up this way. What was this? The third or fourth time he had woken up after either being stabbed, drugged or whatever it was the Yautja had done to him?

Speaking of the Predator, Arthur looked around the small room and was relieved not to see the hulking 8-foot alien anywhere to be seen. Hopefully Ka'Anu had walked off a cliff or accidentally ejected himself out the nearest airlock. "If I could only be that lucky," Arthur grumbled.

The bed he was lying on was of the softest Arthur had ever felt, the fur pelts under and around him were keeping him cocooned in warmth. A sweltering warmth actually, Arthur was almost sweating and he pushed the pelts away quickly. Now that he was up, he might as well see where he was and look for something to eat as his stomach was starting to rumble.

There was no pad by the door to open it, so Arthur moved gingerly towards it and the metal slid out of the way. Poking his head cautiously out, Arthur raised a dubious eyebrow at the fog rolling over the floor of the hallway and carefully reached out with one foot to touch it. His hands gripped the doorframe, ready to pull his leg back if the fog was harmful but, much to his surprise, he found the mysterious misty substance warm to the touch.

Finally emerging from his room out into the hallway, Arthur found that the fog continued on though it did not enter the room he had been in. _Weird_. Aside from the warm fog, the very air around Arthur was hot and damp; reminding him of the rain forest his academy troop had gone hiking through as part of their climate training.

Still, it was the sight of the rapidly passing stars that stopped the young human in his tracks,

"No." Arthur stumbled forward, grabbing hold of the viewport's frame as he stared wide-eyed. "No, no, no, please no."

He had hoped that he was still at the station, even if this was Ka'Anu's ship Arthur had hoped that it was still in dry-dock. But it was not. The Predator's ship was speeding through space, to where and for what reason Arthur did not know but his situation came crashing down around him. There was no escape, and the silver metal bracelet around his wrist made running away futile. The Yautja would find him no matter where he went.

Arthur felt defeated, drained, perhaps it was the effects of that blue stuff the Yautja had used on his wound, but when the human saw the Predator he did nothing except droop his shoulders. From his lowered field of vision, Arthur watched the powerfully built legs walk towards him and his spine stiffened. The Predator chittered at him, sounding as if he was making an inquiry and the human realized, horrifyingly, that the Yautja no longer had a translator. How was he supposed to understand the hunter now?

Just then, Arthur's stomach rumbled, startling both human and Yautja with its ferocity and the young man's face heated up in embarrassment.

A hand wrapped around his shoulder, pulling him forward, and Arthur nearly tripped over his feet trying to keep up. The Predator dragged him to the room the hunter had exited, and Arthur saw that it was a galley. Very different from the one on the _Spirit's Adventure_ , but there was a place storing food, a cooking range and a table with benches.

The table already had a platter of steaming pieces of meat and what looked like lobsters, but slightly more alien looking, on it. Ka'Anu took Arthur to the table, gestured at the platter before sitting down and helping himself to the food. Arthur slowly sat down on the other side of the table and sniffed cautiously. The smell was not repugnant, but the steak shaped pieces of meat were not from any animal he knew of. Hoping it was edible, or this voyage was going to become very agonizingly short, Arthur picked up a smaller piece of meat. He juggled it between his hands, it being too hot to handle, and blew on it before dropping it on his plate.

A hissing, popping noise made him look up and Arthur felt his jaw go slack. The Predator was removing his helmet! There were no photographs of Yautja without their helmets, only eye-witness accounts, and the sketches made from the accountings differed from one to the other.

Arthur's first thought was that he was looking at one of the ugliest faces he had ever seen. His second thought was that if crabs and octopuses ever had children together they would look like Yautja, his third thought was more of a wish that the Predator could eat without taking his helmet off.

Ka'Anu clicked at Arthur, and the human ducked his head, hurriedly scooping up his piece of meat to take a bite.

"Ow!" Arthur dropped the meat and waved his hand over his mouth, looking around for something to drink. The food was still hot, burning his lips and he hastily grabbed the pitcher and filled a cup near him with the clear liquid inside it. Thankfully the water, for that was what it was, was cool and Arthur gulped it down gratefully. Looking up, the human's eyes caught the golden orbs of the Predator and Arthur squirmed slightly at the glare directed at him. At least he thought it was a glare, kind of hard to tell in his opinion if the Yautja was irritated or surprised at his actions.

Not that Arthur cared one way or the other, maybe if he made himself as annoying as possible the Predator would decide he was not worth it. Just as soon as he thought that plan though Arthur discarded it. Ka'Anu would either eat him or dump him somewhere that could very well be ten times worse than this ship.

When the Yautja got up a few minutes later Arthur ducked his head, waiting, but Ka'Anu merely walked past him and left the galley. The human finished his own meal, sticking with the meat and avoiding the alien looking lobsters, as he knew some sea creatures could be poisonous to humans.

There was nothing to wipe his hands on when he was done so Arthur quickly licked the meat juices off his fingers, and got up. The Predator had left his plate and glass on the table, so the human assumed he was to do the same thing. Walking to the door, Arthur, feeling a little tired from his excursion, his hunger sated and his healed wound aching, was prepared to go back to his room when the door opened.

Ka'Anu stood there, helmet still not on, and grabbed Arthur before the human could duck.

"Hey!"

The Predator hoisted Arthur up on the counter by the cooking range and took hold of the human's leg. Arthur was forced to lay on his back, his hands slipping across the shiny surface as he fought for purchase to keep himself from being flipped over, but that was not the Yautja's intent. Ka'Anu held up a piece of hard leather to the sole of Arthur's foot, and used his fingers to measure the width and length.

Nodding, satisfied, the Predator turned to leave but stopped and looked at the table. Arthur may not be a professional at reading Yautja face expressions but Ka'Anu did not look pleased. The hunter pointed to the table and pointed at Arthur, before pointing back at the table, chittering and clicking the whole time.

"What?" Arthur whispered, propping himself up on the counter so he could look at the table, and the platter of food with the plates and cups. "What do you want me to do?"

The Yautja growled slightly, before hauling Arthur off the counter and pointed at the table again. Then he pointed at the sink and the cupboards. The human took in the long breath, "You want me to clear the table, put the food away?"

Ka'Anu pushed the human towards the table, and Arthur tentatively picked up the plate and cup he had used before stepping towards the sink. Satisfied, the Yautja left and Arthur breathed easier. Sure, clearing the table made sense, he was a slave now after all. The thought put a bad taste in his mouth but disobeying did not seem to be a good plan. Who knew how the Predator would punish him, and Arthur would need to earn the Yautja's trust if he was going to make his escape. Ka'Anu would have to land somewhere eventually, stop at another station, and the human would be waiting, biding his time for the right moment. Maybe smashing the tracker against something would disable it.

Arthur put the dirty dishes in the sink and carried the platter to the fridge unit. There was still a good size of food left on it, despite Ka'Anu having eaten about half of it. Arthur wondered how much the Predator had expected him to eat. With some slight hesitation, the young human finally cleaned the dishes, missing the wash rack back on the _Spirit's Adventure_ that made dish washing easy and simple. Once the sick was filled with hot water, Arthur looked around for a soap solution and found one under the sink. It was a green sludge but it looked familiar, so Arthur dumped a little bit into the water filled sink and used a nearby brush to mix it up. Sure enough the water bubbled up and the human put his hand in, the water stung a little, probably the soap, but Arthur worked through the discomfort and got the dishes done in record time, worried that the Predator would return and find him lagging.

His assigned chores finished, Arthur rubbed his red, irritated hands before walking to the door. Now truly tired, and worried when the skin on his fingers began to peel, Arthur walked back to his room, relieved when he found it, and pulled himself up on the bed. His head hitting the pillow, Arthur did not even have the strength to turn to see who entered his room when he heard the door open. Instead he closed his eyes, and was asleep instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Hi, I'm back. Temporarily anyway, hopefully regularly, we'll see what my schedule permits. Enjoy and review please. Feedback appreciated. A bit of a short chapter but I hope to write a longer one soon.

FD: Thanks for the review!

{Arthur}

 _Perhaps I pushed him a little too far_ , Arthur wondered, finally having calmed down enough to think rationally. The young human had been boiling mad, furious and indignant at the way the Predator had punished him for his rebellion but now, after having some time to think, Arthur realized he had overreacted.

One could hardly blame him though. Seriously, being handed a large, raw piece of meat and ordered to cook it had not been what Arthur had expected when the Yautja had woken him up from his nap. He had tried to explain that he did not know how to cook, but Ka'Anu either did not understand or refused to listen. Instead the Predator had shown him a shelf filled with spices and then stepped back to watch. Stupidly, Arthur had stood his ground and refused. He was not a woman, or some educated culinary chef, he had no idea how to cook other than the microwavable packages. To expect him to cook was the last straw, cleaning, fixing things or polishing armor was one thing but cooking was an entirely different level that Arthur was not comfortable with in the slightest. After losing patience with the Yautja's insistence that he cook, Arthur had yelled his defiance without any thought to volume or being respectful. A short second had passed then, a heaving human staring at a shocked Predator, before said Yautja had roared in the boy's face. Arthur had had a moment of fear, as Ka'Anu had grabbed him and hoisted him over one shoulder, and he had started kicking and hitting until his still aching abdomen had protested.

In silence, Arthur had breathed heavily while the Yautja carried him to the back of the ship and into a room that looked like a cargo hold. Several hooks were hanging from the ceiling and Ka'Anu coiled a rope around and under Arthur's shoulders before lifting him up. Hung by the rope, the human swung slowly while the Predator gave him a parting glare and then left the room. Arthur had yelled at him, threatened to take revenge while the Yautja slept and when those failed he had started begging. Nothing worked, for Ka'Anu did not come back and the silence of the cargo hold was stifling. Arthur felt he had been hanging there forever, and the more time that passed the more the human became aware of his growing hunger. At first, he was able to ignore the pangs of his stomach, the pain in his abdomen proving almost equal to that of his hunger. However, as time passed, the initial stirrings of his stomach started to resemble the sounds of a rumbling mountain. When it was full out growling at him Arthur began to panic. He had never known real hunger; a missed meal here and there sure, when studying or a game had been more important, and while his family had never been rich there had always been food enough for one healthy serving, if not two. Now though, Arthur feared Ka'Anu would punish him by starvation, and who knew how long the Predator would remain ticked off at him. Just about when Arthur was beginning to feel like his stomach was about to start eating its way up his chest, the storage door opened. The Predator entered, eyes immediately pinning the human where he hung and Arthur quivered. He met the Yautja's eyes before lowering his own, barely daring to breathe as his 'owner' stopped before him. Arthur dipped his head further, hoping he was properly showing his submission and readiness to obey.

The human almost reared back when he saw the clawed hand coming up, but Ka'Anu was reaching for the rope. Being lifted up and then put on his feet brought to the forefront of Arthur's senses the pins and needles feeling traveling up his arms. They ached, the shoulders sore from where the rope had been wrapped around. The Yautja untied the rope and stepped aside, his manner expectant. Arthur lifted his eyes just once, startled to see the Predator raising a spiked eyebrow at him. Ducking his head again, Arthur scurried forward, his face red with embarrassment and not at all looking forward to the task ahead. Ka'Anu followed him back to the kitchen, preferring to stand off to the side as Arthur stared in trepidation at the large piece of meat in the sink. Huffing, and hoping he did not mess up, the young human figured out how to start the grill and then found a knife to cut the meat into manageable slices. Investigating the spices cupboard made Arthur panic, for there were dozens of bottles and he only recognized a few. Salt was one he knew would be needed, definitely, as well as pepper, but what was cumin? Or that matter paprika? Cloves? Rosemary? Arthur felt his head start to pound. Deciding to stick to what he knew, Arthur grabbed the salt and pepper and started seasoning, going lightly on the pepper because he knew that some humans could not handle a lot and finding out the Predator's tolerance level was not ideal. Just as the meat started to brown on one side, the smell filling the room, Arthur jumped at the loud growl behind him.

Startled, the boy looked behind and saw that the Yautja was fidgeting, looking away while one hand had made an aborted move towards his abdomen. Had the Predator's stomach just rumbled with hunger? Arthur's own stomach had been clenching in anticipation to finally having food, but had otherwise been silent as if it had growled itself out while he was still in the cargo hold.

A glare from Ka'Anu had Arthur turning back to his task, not sure how he felt knowing the Predator had hungered. Of course, the Yautja could have made himself something to eat; he had most likely done so plenty of times before Arthur had come along, so why had he purposely gone without food? To make his human slave feel guilty about being defiant? That was probably it.

Arthur dished up the first two pieces of meat that were done and quickly handed the plate to the Yautja. Some of the tension left his body after Ka'Anu moved to the table to eat. Arthur left the rest of the meat to cook while he went to the fridge unit to get out the pitcher of water and found a couple of glasses before taking them over to the table. The Predator was eating heartily, which must be a good sign, but then dogs ate just about anything, even stuff that was bad for them, so who knew?

Ka-Anu stiffened then, his nostrils flaring, and Arthur had one wild moment where he thought he had poisoned the Predator. However, the Yautja turned his head and inhaled, his nostrils twitching. And then Arthur smelled it too; the tantalizing smells of the meat had been replaced with a burning stench.

Alarmed, Arthur bolted for the kitchen, catching sight of the flames charcoaling the meat on the grill before a large arm wrapped around his waist and yanked him back. Smoke built up into clouds, and Ka'Anu rushed past the human, tapping a control panel and Arthur exhaled as the sprinkler system engaged. The kitchen was doused in water, the smoke building before finally being drawn out through the vents.

Arthur tentatively stepped forward, looking around the Predator's bulk at the kitchen and winced. Charred, wet meat stuck to the grill, and over every surface was a coating of soot and water that gave the whole area a very ugly appearance. He was so dead.

Apparently Ka'Anu felt the same way, for he spun on his heel and grabbed Arthur by his shirt, hauling him forward.

"I'm sorry!" Arthur's heart pounded wildly in his chest, ramming against his ribcage. Perhaps it was from the smoke but Arthur's eyes watered, and tear tracks were already making their way down his smoke covered cheeks. He blubbered on; sure he was going to get skinned alive or beaten to within an inch of his life. He ignored the Yautja's growling words, he was past hearing anything, even his own sobbing voice that begged and pleaded for mercy. All he could hear was his heart, sounding like a rapidly beaten uneven drum.

Ka'Anu must have heard it too, for his head tilted, his eyes looking down at Arthur's chest. The human was breathing so quickly he was on the point of hyperventilating, his chest rising and falling so fast that hardly any air was getting into his lungs at all. Captor and captive stood there, the only sound Arthur's hitching breath.

The young human was lost in his terrified mind, aware of nothing but the imminent death that loomed over him. Until a sound broke through his panic, a low rumble coursing through his body, like the engine of a motorboat and for some reason it was soothing. He started thinking about something else, his mind slowly moving away from thoughts of his torturous death, like why the sound of a motorboat would be calming.

Arthur awoke from his dazed state: slowly lifting a hand to rub at his aching, wet eyes. He blinked, feeling worn out and drowsy but unable to close his eyes because he knew something was not right. His senses came back to him, and he blinked again, trying to process what he was feeling, seeing and hearing.

His left ear was pressed against a rubbery, warm, dry surface, and a large arm of the same skin texture was wrapped around him. He could hear the steady beating of a heart against his ear, a big heart from the din it was making, and the rumbling sound was actually a very loud purr, resonating up the chest he was pressed against. Arthur knew before he understood, that Ka'Anu had an arm wrapped around him, pressing him to his chest and was purring to calm him down.

This information was computed in Arthur's mind, and then it looped again and again, trying to make sense of it. And when it did, Sullivan inhaled sharply, jerking his head away but the rest of him was kept immobile. If possible, Ka'Anu's purring kicked up a notch and Arthur found himself to weary to resist or ponder why the sound affected him so much. Was it because most humans found a cat's purring a soothing and calming technique against trauma or emotional pain?

Arthur belatedly realized that he was being carried, into his room. The Predator put him in his bed and covered him with the furs in a way that would keep him warm but he would not overheat.

The purring now no longer rocketing through his body, Arthur blearily looked up at the Yautja, his mouth dry and no words came but what would have been the point anyway. Ka'Anu was still purring, softer now, and Arthur felt himself drifting again, this time towards sleep and his eyes closed heavily. He did not dream, his mind too exhausted to conjure images up before his closed eyelids.

{Ka'Anu}

The human was asleep, for real this time not merely mentally lost. Ka'Anu stopped his purring, slowly moving away from the bed and leaving the room. This day had to be the worst the Predator had ever had, even fighting hard meat had not been as bad as this. The Yautja had forgotten, in his zeal of having a human protégé that the soft meat creatures were amongst some of the most emotional species' in the universe.

He had not been sure that purring would help calm the human down. The technique was useful on female Predators and even female humans but male Yautja were immune to its effects. Thank Paya that male humans were not.

His human had had a panic attack; a dangerous reaction to stressful situations but thankfully Ka'Anu had reacted quickly. He had only planned to yell at Arthur for forgetting about the meat, nothing more, but the boy must have feared a far worse outcome. If the hammering of that small heart had been anything to go by, Arthur Sullivan had acted as if he were about to be skinned alive.

Ka'Anu felt no satisfaction in instilling such fear in the human. This agreement would not work if Arthur moved around in dread to every action the Yautja took. When his _eta_ woke they would have to come to an understanding, after the human got something to eat and drink, and cleaned the kitchen.

Huffing, Ka'Anu moved towards the cockpit, contemplating what he could do to show Arthur Sullivan that he was not going to permanently damage him, no matter the offense. Of course there would be consequences for acts of disobedience or disrespect, like earlier when Arthur had first refused to cook. But hanging from a hook in the cargo hold was about as severe as Ka'Anu was going to get.

Perhaps he needed to change tactics? Not all human males were so domineering after all, many of them could command respect without raising a hand. Perhaps Ka'Anu needed to be more parental and less a teacher at the moment?

The Predator nodded to himself as he sat down at the helm controls, his decision made.

He would change; after the kitchen had been cleaned of course because there was no way he was doing that. Not only was it beneath his warrior dignity but Arthur should clean it to instill a well-learned lesson: take your eyes off the food that's cooking again and you will be cleaning up a similar mess again. It was not going to be easy, and Ka'Anu felt a little amusement as he imagined the human's frustrated look at trying to wash the soot away.

Life had certainly lost its dull age since he had taken Arthur Sullivan in.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Not beta read so if you see any errors let me know please :-)**

{Arthur}

It had been a weird two days, of that there was no doubt. When Arthur had woken from his panic induced nap, he had thought the Yautja would tear him limb from limb, after making him clean the kitchen from top to bottom. Thus it not been a total surprise when the Predator had directed him to the soot covered room, what was a shock though was that Ka'Anu actually took the time to show the human how to use the cleaning supplies.

Arthur had been speechless, and had cleaned the kitchen without a grumble. 'Never look twice at help freely offered', his mother had always said and Arthur had tried not to dwell too much on the change in the hunter's attitude. He chalked it up to Ka'Anu not wanting any more damage done to his ship, for it continued beyond restoring the kitchen to its former condition.

His wounds having healed, the Predator started teaching Arthur how to fight. The human tried to be discouraged when Ka'Anu clearly disapproved of his lack of muscle. So, instead of going straight into weapon training, the Yautja introduced Arthur to weight lifting, and even built the small human an obstacle course that required his servant to climb, duck swinging objects and jump.

Arthur was sure Ka'Anu was just going to gesture to him to 'get to it', but the Predator surprised him. The Yautja was not a patient instructor by any means, several times Arthur saw Ka'Anu's hands curl into fists, as he wanted to hit the human but barely restrained himself from doing so. That first week of training, Arthur expected to be hit and tensed every time he saw that the hunter was annoyed, but, shockingly, it was the rise of tension in Arthur that made Ka'Anu rein himself in.

Arthur progressed well, the Yautja just pushing him enough but not beyond what eh was capable of. There was one obstacle the human could not finish, no matter how many times Ka'Anu tried to encourage him. The Yautja had a rope hanging from the center of the training room, and had shown Arthur several times how to climb it and reach the bars in the ceiling from which he would then climb, upside down, to the scaling wall and from there to the floor. Arthur had managed the scaling wall before, had been up and down it many times, but he had to be able to climb the rope all the way to the ceiling.

He kept losing his grip, slipping down the rope and burning his hands. The first time it had happened, Ka'Anu had padded the floor around the rope so that Arthur had a softer landing but sometimes, if he fell from higher than ten feet, the Predator caught him before he hit the ground. Arthur got discouraged after failing three days in a row to climb the rope; even with all the muscle building he was doing he still could not make it to the top. Despite the Yautja giving the boy a mixture to soak his hands in at the end of the day, Arthur's hands were still covered in rope burn and blisters.

It came to a point where even looking at that rope made Arthur's heart start beating faster.

Circumstances such as this always reach a breaking point, and for all of Ka'Anu's knowledge of humans he did not see it coming.

"No." Arthur spoke with finality. An entire week of Ka'Anu not laying a hand on him or growling at him with a clear threat had made the human regain some of his courage and spunk. There was also the fact that Arthur had had enough. He had never thought of himself as a quitter but he could not take it anymore, if that rope suddenly caught on fire it would be the best day of Arthur's life. His hands hurt constantly now, and it was not the good kind of hurt that meant you had accomplished something so the pain was worth it. This was the pain of failure and Arthur hated it, he hated the rope and he realized that he hated Ka'Anu for everything the Yautja had done since saving his life back on the station. "I'm not climbing that anymore." He trembled before the Predator, from rage or fear the human was not quite sure, but he stood firm. "I'm not doing it. I'm tired of falling. I'm tired of failing. You make me climb that rope again and I'll hang myself on it."

Arthur was not suicidal, he did not want to die but many people say things in the heat of the moment they later regret or are shocked that they even said.

Trying to breathe steadily, almost failing, Arthur watched as Ka'Anu cocked his head at him. The Yautja regarded him, and the human wondered once again how much of his speech the hunter actually understood. Before he could react, Ka'Anu grasped one of Arthur's hands and turned it palm face-up. A hot, dry finger traced the skin of the human's hand, feeling the blisters and the over-heated skin where the burn marls were.

Arthur was too surprised at the action to do more than raise an eyebrow as Ka'Anu made his inspection, first of one hand and then the other. Then the predator took Arthur hand and turned his own over, inviting the human to do as he had done. Cautiously, Arthur ran his fingers carefully over the area of the large palm, noting once again the difference to temperature between himself and the Yautja. There were scars on Ka'Anu's hands, one that ran across his fingers from one palm to the other. There was a burn mark where the hand met the wrist, Arthur actually leaned closer to get a better look at it. The mark was unlike any burn scar he had seen before, at least on an organic. He had seen something similar done to a piece of metal when a can of acid had been dropped on it. The Yautja's skin had been eaten away, just like that piece of metal.

Arthur looked up his 'owner'. What was the Predator trying to say? That getting scarred up was just part of the business? That avoiding injuries during training was impossible?

Ka'Anu's eyes rolled and he pointed with one finger to the scars on his other hand before flexing the muscles of his arm and pointing to them. Then he pointed to Arthur's scars and bent his arm to flex it, pointing to the muscle the small human had accumulated within a week.

"Pain makes you stronger?" Arthur asked, reminded of a stupid old song one of girls back at the academy had listened to all the time. The Yautja studied him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, as if to say 'more or less'.

Arthur was at a crossroads now; he recognized that and the choices that lay before him. The easier route, of course, was to refuse Ka'Anu's effort to be understandable and try to walk away. The harder choice was to try to climb the rope again.

No mater how much Arthur wanted to tear that rope from the ceiling and tell Ka'Anu he could throw himself out the nearest airlock, the human refrained from doing so. A small part of him, very small you understand but there nonetheless, was afraid that one move on his part would shatter the hold Ka'Anu was keeping on his temper and the Yautja would go back to bellowing orders and do worse damage than tear his belly wound open, dislocate a shoulder or send him into a panic attack. Best deal with the devil you got than have an uglier one rear its head.

Shaking, drawing in a breath to calm himself, Arthur turned and stared at the rope. He went to grab it but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Ka'Anu motioned with his hand, using the sign that had been delegated for rest and Arthur's shoulders sagged. Together they did a few exercises to wind down before leaving for the kitchen.

The Predator had shown him how to use the kitchen unit and Arthur had gotten adventurous in using the spices, cooking small amounts of meat when he experimented to see which combination appealed to the Yautja and which one made him hack up a lung. While Ka'Anu was pleased he was cooking, the 'experiments' were not welcome for meal times. Arthur had to do those during his breaks and then track down the hunter to wherever he was in the ship for him to taste-test.

The lunch meal passed in quiet, Arthur having learned that Ka'Anu, while normally not minding the human's talking and asking questions, wanted silence when eating. Arthur cleaned up afterwards, putting the leftovers in the fridge and washing down the table before getting started on the dishes. Ka'Anu left, off to check the ship's controls or pilfer about in his room building something. The Predator was always tinkering with something, Arthur noticed, whether it was some new and improved gadget for hunting or miniature version of his gear for Arthur. The human knew Ka'Anu wanted to take him on hunts eventually, why else would he train him and make him hunting gear? Would he be used as bait? Draw in other humans?

Arthur was sick at the idea, but on the other hand he could learn everything he needed to learn in order to survive and if Ka'Anu tried to use him against his own species than Arthur would cut and run.

His chores done, Arthur walked out into the hallway. Usually by now he was too exhausted to do much, so he preferred to go to the cockpit and watch the stars zoom by. Sometimes he fell asleep, dreaming of freedom, sometimes he cried, wondering what his mother had been told by Captain Richards when he did not send her a message like he had promised to do to tell her all about the Hornhead space station.

This time though, Arthur wandered back to the training room and stood before the rope. Ka'Anu had cut him some slack; the human realized that now and was thankful for it. Before, the Yautja had always insisted he keep tackle the rope for at least ten times before allowing him a break. This time Arthur had not even attempted once before he had cracked and the Predator had seen that, backing off and allowing the human some time to calm down.

Staring at the rope now, Arthur's anger was at himself, for his failure. He was ashamed as well, for allowing a few rope burns to dissuade him from tackling the challenge. Some man he was. Without knowing it, the fire that lives in all of us, lit within Arthur, igniting his need to prove himself, burning brightly the more his mind dwelt on his failure.

He reached for the rope before he was fully aware of the action, and when he realized the fire was in full blaze and there was no backing down now.

He grabbed hold of the rope, already feeling its harsh bristles rubbing against the tender skin of his palms. Hand-over-hand, Arthur started to pull himself up, locking his knees and ankles together with the rope between, anchoring himself as he slowly climbed up.

It was painful progress. Arthur was halfway up when he started to feel his hands slide, wet from perspiration and practically rubbed raw from the rope, but he clamped his legs hard against the rope. He had made it farther before; he would do so again, in answer to his determination the fire within roared.

He did not notice when his hands started bleeding, his eyes were fastened on the ceiling and blind to all else but his goal. He was three quarters of the way up when the rope, now wet with his blood and sweat, slipped between his ankles. Arthur's hands grasped the rope firmly as his legs swung out and then flung around, trying to find purchase against the cord. His position stable again, Arthur continued, pulling himself up one hand at a time to the approaching bars above. He could hardly breathe when he reached the top of the rope, his lungs burning from the exertion, but Arthur held onto the rope tightly with one hand and his legs while he reached out for the bar. Sweat stung his eyes and his hand missed, glancing off the bar with a painful slap that echoed in the room.

Blinking his eyes, Arthur tried again and this time managed to grab hold on the bar. Now he had to let go of the rope and hang from the bar. Keeping his legs on the rope, Arthur moved his other hand to grab the bar and then tried to move his legs. They were looked around the rope, stiff from holding the position and shaking from the effort of fighting against gravity.

The door to the training room swishing open caught Arthur's attention and his hands slipped off the bar. He fell over backwards, grabbing for the rope as his legs gave out and he slid down the cord before losing his hold on his completely. He free fell, bringing his arms up over his face as the floor rushed up to meet him but before he could slam into the ground something grabbed him around the waist and he was yanked off course. Head snapping back to meet a hard chest, Arthur watched as he was carried to the other side of the room, the Yautja sailing, for lack of a better word, into the wall and coming to a stop.

He was placed on his feet but he crumpled to the floor and looked up at a very irritated Yautja. The Predator reached for his hands, the boy then becoming aware that they were bleeding and he stared at his red palms in horror. Ka'Anu took him to the medical room and put him on the table, grabbing the necessary items to take care of the wounds.

Arthur listened in silence, wincing and biting his lip as the Predator cleaned his hands, as Ka'Anu growled in anger. That his master was berating him was clear to the human, and Arthur hung his head, the fire in him dying down to a spark.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, lowered eyes seeing the blackish green fingers pause before continuing their ministrations. "I just wanted to complete the obstacle. I wanted to make you proud of me." Ducking his head even further, Arthur hit the nail on the head, "I wanted to be strong."

{Ka'Anu}

The Predator regarded the small human before him. He should have realized this would happen. His protégé was a teenager after all, juveniles were always trying to prove themselves, especially when they thought their mentors or parents were disappointed in them. Arthur had been right, of course, Ka'Anu had been annoyed the human could not climb the rope but his brain had been working on a solution when he realized that his _eta_ had not walked by his room to head to the cockpit as he usually did. The gym had been the last place Ka'Anu had thought to look for Arthur when he became concerned at this break of habit; the human had not been enthusiastic to enter the room once the rope obstacle had been introduced.

He had been shocked and somewhat pleased to find Arthur at the top of the rope, almost onto the first bar, but then panic had swept through him when the human had lost his grip and fallen. He had launched himself forward without a thought, grabbing the human and turning so that his back would hit the wall. That was when he had smelled the blood and let Arthur go, concerned when the boy fell to the ground.

Seeing the wounds he had been angry, and annoyed at himself. He had seen humans be destructive towards themselves when they were highly emotional or depressed, he should have kept a better eye on his charge. Keeping himself in control, Ka'Anu had cleaned the boy's hands as gently as possible but had not missed Arthur biting his lip in an effort to keep silent. Unable to stop himself, the Yautja launched into full lecturing mode, even if the human could not understand the words he would recognize the tone for what it was and hopefully learn that while Ka'Anu wanted him to be a good fighter it was not to be at the expense of his own body. Crippled warriors had at least earned the right to pampering from females, while those who got seriously injured during training were regarded as stupid if the trainer himself was not at fault.

The boy's apology though, that Ka'Anu had not been prepared for. Arthur had not shown any interest before in being concerned for what the Predator thought of him. Yes, he had followed all of the Yautja's instructions over the past week but Ka'Anu knew that he had done not out of respect but fear. Please the strongest and you will be safe. The spice testing had been fun, most of the time, but also a desire on the human's part not to displease the Yautja with faulty food at meals.

"I wanted to be strong."

Ka'Anu sighed, tapping his fingers on the table and regarding his charge for a moment before moving away. He mixed a sleeping draught, wanting the human to sleep for a few hours after his near death experience and to also keep his _eta_ out of trouble while he completed his idea. Thankfully, Arthur gulped down the bland mixture and lay down without complaint.

Heading back to his room, Ka'Anu looked down at the pieces of leather he had been cutting when he had noticed Arthur was not where he normally was. Getting back to work, the Yautja fashioned each piece carefully, although it was a strong material the size was proving a little difficult for the Predator's large fingers but he managed eventually. When he was finished, Ka'Anu was quite satisfied with the result and stood up, stretching as he did so before grabbing the two items off his work table.

He walked back to the medical room and regarded the human's sleeping form for a moment. Hopefully this would solve the problem, and if it did not then there would be options available at the station. Pleased with his plan, Ka'Anu placed the two items on the table beside Arthur and exited the room.

When the human woke up several hours later he would find two fingerless gloves, made out of sturdy leather that would withstand a rope's burn.

 **AN: Reviews, as always, are appreciated.**


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